Closing deals seamlessly

CLOSING a sale is so often presented as if it were an end game. However, if you use sales conversation effectively, your closing conversation will be woven into everything you say.

There are three things you need to know when closing a deal:

1.

Getting off the fence;

2.

An organised agenda is not a hidden agenda; and

3.

A call to action is not springing a trap.

Whatever you are trying to sell, the first thing you have to ask yourself is “How can I deliver value with my sales conversation?”

This means that the real focus is on the conversation and not on the sale. The sale is the result of an effective exchange of questions and ideas.

Now, it is true that you can engage in a meaningful and enjoyable conversation only to arrive at a point where you would like to wrap it up. Yet the person you are talking to is not pulling out his wallet.

He seems to be stuck with indecision and cannot get off the fence. You can tell because he keeps asking questions rather than closing the conversation and engaging in a purchase. He needs to be prompted gently, but firmly.

But let’s get back to the conversation. The point of a sales conversation is to follow a sales agenda. Too often that agenda is all about selling and fails to deliver value. But the whole point of being a salesman is to make the purchase more easily justified and more comfortable.

You’re not trying to roll your client under a bus. So, your sales agenda is to engage in meaningful conversation that delivers value and to do that you have to interact with your client. You have to understand what he is about and what he needs. That is an affective sales agenda.

So, you get to the end. You get to the point where you need to prompt your client to make a choice. This is where closing happens. But the closing has been part of the conversation all along if you have been engaged with your client.

He has been receiving value and finding out what he needs to know about a problem. You need to make a call to action. Tell him in a straightforward manner what he needs to do.

If you’ve been delivering value all along, then this is easy and comfortable instead of feeling like you are springing a trap that you set up. The sales persuasion has all been sensibly woven into the conversation. The sales closing is merely the end of the conversation and the point where you tell your client what you think he should do.

If you make it your business to offer real value in your sales conversation, then the closing conversation will come naturally. You will know when to prompt your client to get off the fence and make the purchase.

When your sales agenda is to understand your client and his problem rather than “getting” a sale, your closing call to action will be truly comfortable.

One of the best ways to improve your business growth is to better understand sales conversations.